Parkville: Past and Present

CSL's original site was once home to its founding director, now it has 2,000 workers.

By Jennifer Zimmermann
30 Apr 2018

Many scientific breakthroughs have occurred over the past century at our Parkville site in Australia, but it wasn’t always the sprawling campus on the outskirts of Melbourne seen today. When the land was purchased in 1917, it came with a handful of buildings including a weatherboard cottage, some stables and nearly two dozen farming horses. CSL’s first employee and founding director, Dr. William Penfold, moved into the cottage with his family and lived and worked on site. Today, 2,000 Parkville employees commute from their (off-site) homes and work across 43 buildings on the campus, which also includes an adjacent child care center. CSL has grown from its Parkville site to a global operation with over 21,000 employees in more than 35 countries.